


Professionally Decent

by dornessiti



Series: Billy Deserves Kisses [1]
Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Autism, First Kiss, Fluff, Kinda, M/M, Stimming, this is honestly mostly fluff with veeery lil angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 01:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10478766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dornessiti/pseuds/dornessiti
Summary: Billy and Zack play video games and have a sleepover. Kimberly owes them pizza.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Read Notes at the End

“Hell yeah, take that evil zombie trash!” Zack crowed. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner you were so good at this game, man? _We are killing it!”_

Without looking up from the screen, Billy shrugs. “I’ve never played it before.” A strangled noise come from somewhere beside him off-screen. 

“Are you serious?!”

“Yeah...Is that bad?” He asks nervously.

“Bad? Man, you’re a zombie killing god! I’ve been playin’ this game for like 5 months and I’m nowhere near as good as you.” Zack insists, his entire body responding to the actions of his character on screen. If Billy wasn’t trying so hard to stay focused on their virtual mission he could sit there and watch Zack play for hours. The way he jumps up in excitement every time he kills a zombie, or the way he turns to flash him one of those _brighter-than-the-sun_ grins whenever they when an achievement together. The only hard part about playing video games with Zack is when they have to fight boss battles. Zack will press up against his side without even thinking about it, sending heat pooling through Billy’s body from where their thighs are touching. Every brush of shoulders distracts him from the game but it’s worth it. It’s worth it to have someone want to spend time with him, even if it’s not exactly how he always imagined it. 

Then again, it would be impossible to imagine someone like Zack Taylor.

“We could totally be professionals.” Zack adds, shaking Billy out of his reverie. 

“Don’t you think we’re a little busy protecting the universe to be professional gamers?”

“Maybe not with that attitude.” He teases, nudging the shorter boy. “Oh yeah, I nearly forgot- Kimberly’s suppose to buy us pizza later remember? You should just stay ‘till then, there’s no point you goin’ all the way home, man.”

“If It’s not too much trouble...”

“We’re on a roll here! I’m basically kidnapping you for the afternoon, believe me it’s better if you just accept it now.”

Billy can’t help but laugh, earning another one of those blinding grins from his teammate. 

“See? This is one of the pros to not going to school as much!”

“What, being decent at video games?”

“First of all, that hurt. Decent? I’m a machine, man!” Zack clutches his heart dramatically with a free hand. “And secondly, no. I just realized you smile more when we’re outside of school. It looks good on you...Makes me think I should be kidnappin’ you more often.”

Billy flushes and nearly drops the controller in his hand, suddenly feeling a lot smaller and clumsier than before. Things like this made it hard for him to be around Zack or Jason on his own, both rangers leaving him confused and frustrated no matter how many times he tells himself not to be. It’s not like they were doing it to hurt him. No, they’re both too nice to try and confuse him on purpose. That didn’t change the fact that he didn’t understand. Sometimes he would have so many feelings in his head it felt like he was going to shatter into a million pieces, and then they would say things like this and it felt simpler. He couldn’t tell what was worse; the shattering feeling or the need that kept building in his chest until he almost couldn’t breath. A need for what, he isn’t sure, which is part of the problem. Maybe if he knew what he needed it wouldn’t be so hard to sit so close to these boys. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel so lost.

“Hey...” Zack tried to keep his voice casual, but it was too soft to be anything but concern. Billy looked down and saw that he’d been rubbing the carpet repetitively, the screen of the tv paused for who knows how long. 

“I’m-I’m sorry, we can go back to the game!” Billy pulls his hands up from the carpet carefully, chewing on his lower lip without meeting the eyes of the now silent boy beside him. He tries to unpause the game but Zack pauses it again almost immediately, forcing Billy to look up. 

“You don’t have to be sorry, man. I understand- I mean, obviously I don’t understand, but I’m tryin’ and I guess-” He lets out a slow breath, struggling to find the right words. “I’m here. I’m always right here if you want to talk about anything, even if I _don't_ understand.” It wasn’t much but it was enough. It was a perfectly Zack thing to say and he didn’t realize how much he needed to hear it until it was already said.

“Thank you.” Billy offers a small smile and tries to tell himself to relax. “I just...” 

Zack is quiet again as the other boy trails off, but it’s not a bad silence like before. Instead, he brushes a comforting hand over the back of Billy’s, tracing an invisible alphabet onto his skin. They sit like this for a while; enjoying the feeling of not being alone.

A phone goes off somewhere in the room, changing the atmosphere almost immediately. Zack moves as if he’s been asleep, nearly tripping getting up to find the phone. While he’s gone, Billy runs a shaky hand down his chest to flatten his shirt, taking deep breaths with each slow motion. He’s nearly gotten every wrinkle out off the front by the time Zack comes back, tucking his cellphone into the back pocket of his jeans.  
“So that was Kim, she says we have to reschedule pizza night so she can help Trini with a ‘project’ or somethin’ but-uh-you can still stay if you-if you want?” The offer hangs in the air between them but they both know the answer already. 

“I’ll stay.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s 1 am and they’re still playing this stupid zombie game. They don’t talk about what happened earlier but it’s still there; beneath 2 large pizzas, one too many bowls of ice cream, and a seemingly endless 90’s pop music playlist so helpfully supplied by Zack’s mom. Something’s changed between them. It shows in how they move around each other now, and Billy can’t help but notice. Maybe he doesn’t understand all of these feelings or what he needs, but it doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that he needs to be here, in this moment with Zack.

He can feel his eyes getting heavy, his neck cramping from how many hours they’ve been sitting there and before long, Zack is taking the controller out of Billy’s hand and turning the game off. He gets up and goes to drag blankets and pillows from his bed into the living room, sitting down again to pull his teammate against his chest and to guide them both to the floor in a comfortable makeshift nest. Billy doesn’t fight being manhandled, content with being held in warm arms. The second his head hits the pillow he starts to fall asleep, he's so tired he almost misses the feeling of soft lips against his forehead and a content voice whispering somewhere nearby, _“Goodnight, Billy.”_

**Author's Note:**

> As someone who is not on the Autistic spectrum, I tried very hard not to misrepresent Billy Cranston. To my understand, he is PDD, and I tried very hard to keep with that. If there is any part of this fic that is a misrepresentation of autistic people, I won't argue with changing it or taking down the fic completely. It is my responsibility as a writer to do as much research as I can about diagnosis that I do not personally have and I would like you all to know that I did do my best.


End file.
